The Studio Chair

It's a rainy Tuesday. I'm here in my chair, catching up on many loose ends, and realizing that I have been so busy lately I haven't posted an update in a while. This is a good time of year for me. The school year is coming to a close, most of the "heavy lifting" (aka the aforementioned "busy-ness") has just come to an end, and I can anticipate a solid month of (mostly) uninterrupted studio time! I am also just at the beginning of the gardening season. The rain lightly spattering on the windows is a most welcome and refreshing sound as I anticipate turning over the soil, and the wonderful smell of fresh dirt on my hands.

In the meantime the artwork is moving along. All of the ceramic pieces have made it out of the firing sans cracks, and I have begun to experiment with the glazing. the initial experiment was not entirely successful, but I have some ideas which might prove quite lovely. That's the beauty of a failed experiment: when you got nothin', you got nothin' to lose!

In the meantime I am making bees from a little mold made from a dead bee I found. I don't know exactly what I am going to do with them yet, but they seem important.

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About David

David J. P. Hooker lives and works in the greater Chicago area, where he is an artist and Chair of the Art Department at Wheaton College. He received an M.F.A. in Ceramics from Kent State University and a B.A. in English from Furman University.

His artistic practice explores the inherent value of materials, objects, and places, hoping to find ways to better connect and understand the world we live in. Recently he was awarded the Dunhuang Ceramic Residency and spent two months as artist in residence in Lanzhou, China.

When David is not freaking out over deadlines, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Elaine, his children Abbey and Samuel, and his dog, Mac. He also enjoys baseball, BBQ, and tennis—not necessarily in that order.​